Horse trying to collapse when tacked up?

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Silverspring

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My 23 year old mare has done this the past 2 times I've tacked her up
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Basically saddle goes on, girth is done up (but left very lose as normal cos I finish tacking up then tighten girth a little, walk to mounting block then finish tightening) and within 30 seconds of it being on she sways backward like she's going to go down on her hocks. I yelled at her (as it was almost like she was going to fall asleep the first time) then she starts bending all her legs like she's going to lie down.

She's not stretching forward or groaning but her eyes do seems to close like she's half asleep. It's quite frightening as she is tacked up on a concrete yard and she would do herself some damage if she went down.

The vet has been out giving her accupunture for a sore shoulder (this has been on going for a few months) and says her back is fine and other than the strained shoulder she is in really good shape.

Her saddle has been checked a month or so ago and she hasn't gained any weight, changed shape. No change to girth, numnah, feed, routine...nothing I can't think of anything that I've changed she's just started this!

Any ideas? I have basically taken to walking her round as when she starts the only thing that stops her going down is me holding her halter and telling her to quit it!

She went down once before (like 3 years ago) but she had been tacked up for about 20 minutes (while I stood and talked) and she just keeled over backward and was startled when she actually hit the deck. She leapt up and had grazes on hocks, elbow and fetlocks. It was a hot day and she had been snoozing before I brought her in so I just put it down to that. She's never done it since (well til now!) and I have never left her standing tacked up for more than a few minutes.

I will speak to the vet about it next time she is out but any one got experience of this?

Cookie and hot chocolate for getting this far
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Two possibilities - either her back is causing problems and she is exhibiting classic 'cold back' signs or she has completely different health issues that could be neurological or circulatory.
For your own safety it would be a well to explore a little further
 
Someone else posted a very similar story a while back which included the video of the horse doing this really weird thing. I can't remember an update from that poster but there were quite a few ideas thrown around at the time so may be worth a search.
 
It's not a typical cold back response though and it seems odd she's never had a cold back before. I'm thinking neurological given her age though as a pure bred Arab she's not all that old for her breed. I have the vet out next week, might call my friend who is a vet nurse and get her to come have a look.

I would video her doing it but I need to stay with her incase she actually went down. Might be able to convince another livery to video it while I stay with to stop her actually collapsing.

Once she out being ridden she's absolutely fine, no change in her attitude at all
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mental as ever (we actually spooked at a bit of straw popping under our feet today and spun 180 degree to flee from the terror!)
 
I think the previous poster who was ribena73? There were several posts

we were bandying about possible narcolepsy etc, I *think* but cant remember that the conclusion was that the horse was just being girthy and taking longer to girth/fleece girth sleeve helped. The video posted did look like the horse had control over what it was doing rather than being narcoleptic and am not sure if you are able to tell her to stop doing it if this is maybe the case with yours

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/sh...3&fpart=all

here you are
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and I think we also thought that it might have initially been a girth bind problem but that it may have become a more learned response, ie saddle was removed so horse did no work.

Interested to know if your girl looks similar to that vid.
 
Thanks Ester, my horse is reacting differently to that. Might saddle up on the rubber matting tomorrow and get someone to video her reaction then post again. See if anyone has a better idea based on that, it's difficult to describe.

The horse in that vid looks fully with it and you can see it's motions are jerky before it goes down, but my girl has her eyes half shut and she's very relaxed in the manner she bends her legs almost like she is just planning on lying down. Thing is she's not a lying down sort of horse, she is never seen lying down in the field or the stable
 
This is ringing some bells with me. Do you mind if I link your thread to another forum to see if I read about it there? I'm sorry I can't be more help, but maybe someone else can.
 
Sounds like narcolepsy to me. We've got one that does exactly that, like yours he does it whilst being tacked up, you've got to watch and shout at him as he nods off, was quite disconcerting when he first started doing it but am used to it now! He's an older horse too, 19 I think
 
I have a horse on m yard who is 20 and has narcolepsy and that is exactly what he does. The owner still rides him and he is hacked out 2 or 3 times a week.
 
I've had two that do that, both TB's, one of whom was 8 when he started doing it.
They did it when being tacked up & groomed in our suntrap of a yard. It happened more in hot weather when they were relaxed, but I don't think girthing triggered it with either. Sometimes they would start nodding before tacking up.
Neither ever collapsed, but their legs would buckle & their heads drop. One would often do it the field & wake at the point of collapse.
Neither horse showed symptoms whilst being ridden, so riding them didn't worry me as they had to be very chilled out in order for it to happen.
 
Hi OP, I don't know if my this will help but it might.

My friend's cob x shire used to go through a phase of something very similar, he used to just collapse but it was like he was asleep, but not just when being tacked up, he also used to do it out riding, it was quite dangerous as he'd drop to his knees with no warning.

The vet investigated and it turned out he had a form of narcolepsy and was treated with human tranquilizers, I'm not sure how they worked, but they did. He was on them for about a year I think and then slowly they were phased out and I believe he hasn't had an attack since.
 
Thanks for all the replies, it's reassuring to hear of other people having horse's doing similar. I'll chuck the saddle on this afternoon and see if she does it again (camera at the ready!) if it becomes a constant clearly I will have to ask the vet to have a poke and prode at her. Will post a video if she decides to perform today!
 
One of the horses I had in the past would seriously fidget when girthed & not stand still to be mounted. Turned out to be caused by stomach ulcers.

Having read this fascinating thread I reckon the best suggestion was to try putting a heart rate monitor on and monitor the heartrate. That would prove if it was a pain or stress related thing.

I'd very much like to know the outcome of this Princess, as I'm sure would everyone! Wishing you the very best of luck with solving this mystery.
 
Ribena on here, has a horse that was doing this. PM her to find out more, and I haven't seen any updates on what the outcome of investigations etc were. But it seemed purely to be a girthing issue.
 
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